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Michal Harpáňis anotherTrojica AIR resident.
Literary scientistand translatorMichal Harpáň translates prose and literary science. He has translated several book byʲվDZ, ٳšѾٲԲand other authors. InBanskáŠtiavnica, he is translating Ѳղ岹' ǴǰZlá štvrť / A Bad Neighborhood. A discussion with theauthor-translator duo ledbyRichard Pupalawas part of the festival4 živly onthe 8th of August.
Here is an interview with Michal Harpáň in which he talks abouthow he approaches translation and about his residency.
In what ways canA Bad Neighborhoodbe interesting for Serbian readers?
Marek Vadas has a special position within the context of the younger literature. His short-stories collectionLiečiteľ / Healer(2006) won theAnasoft Litera Award, and up until now there have beenfive editions of the book.It has been translated into Polish, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Czech and French; my translation should be coming out in August, according to the publisher. The answerto the question why Marek Vadas captured theattention of the literary public-- and of that particular Anasoft committee and subsequently of foreign translators -- isseamingly easy.Africa! However, that is not all, what's more important is his depiction of theAfrican themes. When you read a book, it can leave different impressions, then you continue onto other books. When interpreting a text, you take into account deeper contexts. When translating a book, you get in deepest. I know this from personal experience as a reader, scientistand translator.
When my colleague,professorMarta Součková interviewed me about my translational work, she used a quote of mine as thetitle:„I Seek Pleasure When I Translate.“ I did saythat, but only asI saw it printed did I realize how true it was. There were plenty of books, even by renowned authors I won't mention here, that I started to translate, but left unfinished when I realized the work did not please me. So, if translating the bookHealer wouldn't give me pleasure, I wouldn't do it.I was intrigued by the functional use of the short form– you find a short short story that takes up half a page and yet don't feel likeanything's missing. There's a Poe-esquemystery-story atmosphere anda world immersed in magicnot realizing it's magic since it is its reality.
I knew that I would be translating another book by Marek Vades afterHealer.I pondered the bookČierne na čiernom / Black on Black,but in the end I decided forA Bad Neighborhood. What won me over was the unique connection of the short-story and novel forms, which I thought could be interesting for the Serbian reader. And, naturally, that is not the only reason; connecting a narrative about the African world with the epistemic of European story-telling might be one of the others.
What poses the greatest challenge when it comes to this particular translation?
Each translation is a unique challenge. A Bad Neighborhood did not really pose any particular problems. Of course, even here, there comes up an expression that brings a couple of well-oiled sentences to a halt. For example, the main alcoholic beverage that most characters drink is palm wine. To be honest, until I have read Marek's fiction, I didn't even know such wine existed. The words wine and palm --víno and palma -- are identical in and in Serbian, but the attributive adjective "palm wine," which exists in Serbian as well, didn't feel smooth enough, so for now, I am going with the predicative"vino od palme."Plus there are names of African gods, demi-gods and mythological creatures in general, that have no connection whatsoever with the europocentric mythology. And yet suddenly, I stumble upon the word"ܻ徱č첹“ – and it is a woman whose face is turned backwards.Ineuropocentricmythology, such being or phantom is connected with fire and light(in it's also called svetlonos -- the light-bearer,ignis fatuus in Latin:a crazy flame, with the pluralignes fatui). In Serbian mythology, there are only "the wandering fires," without a feminine noun. So I still have to come up with something for that Africanܻ徱č첹creature.
Do you usually communicate with authors when you are translating? Are you in touch withMarekVadas?
I communicated with MarekVadaswhen I was translatingHealer. I asked him what to do with the names of African foods and drinks that have no equivalents in other languages. I agreed with his opinion that there is no need to explain things, a reader can google the word juju, for example. I communicate with authors when I start improvingthe rough draft of the translation. I will do the same withA Bad Neighborhood.By the way, a translator depends not only on authors but also on literary scientists, even on citizens in general.I dutifully search for equivalents for idioms,folk sayings and similar expressions. The phrase„ako by mu z oka vypadol“ cannot be translated literally ("aspitting image of him" -- the literal translation would be"as if he dropped out of his eye"). It's "pljunuti otac“ in Serbian,and imagine the opposite translation, from Serbian into : "a spitted-on father!"When I was translatingKužela'snovelLampa / Lamp, I came upon the wordčܱ.Naturally, no sign of it in any of the dictionaries, so I asked the younger generation and they had no idea. However, when I asked older people, they readily explained that it was a detergent used as a drug;in Serbia, people used glue instead.
Does the residency suit your work? Are you able to concentrate better here?
Work conditions here are extraordinary, I don't have to worry about anything other than the translation. It's my first timein BanskáŠtiavnica, and the town has charmed me. It's a town no matter from which side you look at it, down the hill, up the hill, left, right, up the stairs, down the stairs. I feel like there is no "bad neighborhood" here. When I sit down at my computerhowever, I am in Marek Vadas'sAfrica.
What else are you working on at the moment?
Since I was a boy, I always wanted to be a teacher, and the fairy godmothers have granted me my wish: I teachuniversity. I liked reading lectures, myalma mater was the Faculty of Artsin NoviSada, but I also taught at theFilologicalfakcultyinBelgrade, at the School of PedagogyinSzeged, at the Facultu of Filology/ArtsUMB inBanskáBystrica, from which I received the titleDoctor honoris causa. Academic progress was part of the position, I wrote literary-sciencepublications -- last year, my twentieth book came out.While I was teaching, I didn't have much time left for translation, although I couldn't resist certain books(Vilikovský'sKôň na poschodí, slepec vo Vrábľoch, Krutý strojvodca, Posledný kôň Pompejí). After I retired, I started translating more. I have handed in Balla'sV mene otca / In the Name of the Father, and aside from MarekVadas, I am also currently working onLetmý sneh/ Fleeting SnowandRAJc je preč/ The Thrill Is Goneby PavelVilikovský. Next year, I also plan to publish a book of my studies.
